Google Apps Updates: Translate a site, preview PDFs and page templates location released in Google Sites
In Google Sites you can now:
- Translate a site you visit that's not in your default language for Google Sites. This could be used by international co-workers to view the project site of a remote office if that project site is in the local language of that office. - PDF files attached to pages and file cabinets can now be previewed with the Google Docs viewer so no need to download the file. - You can now set a default location in your site for page templates.
Editions included: Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions
Languages included: All languages supported by Google Sites
How to access what's new: - If you visit a site that's not in your chosen language for Sites, there is now a 'Translate' link at the bottom right of the page which will translate the site for you using Google Translate. - For a PDF file in Sites, clicking on 'View' instead of 'Download' now previews that PDF in Google Docs viewer. - When saving or modifying a page template, choose 'Default location' to specify a location in your site structure. If a page is then created using this template, then the default location will be what you've specified.
Google Apps: Improvements to recurring events and Tasks in Google Calendar
You now have the ability to change locations, add attendees, and change event descriptions without having the meeting break out of the series of recurring events.
Tasks in Calendar is now available in 38 languages.
Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions
Languages included:
Tasks: All languages supported by Google Calendar except Hebrew/Arabic
How to access what's new:
- In Calendar when modifying an event, when you change the time, title, description, location, or attendees of an individual meeting in a series, that meeting now remains part of the series.
- If you change the title, description, location, or attendees of a series of events, these changes will be applied to all events in the series, including those that have overridden fields. However, Calendar will intelligently keep track of what fields you override, and not change those fields e.g. if you change the location of one particular event instance in the series, then later modify the location for the entire series and give it a new title, the one particular event will be updated with the new title but the location will remain at what you had overridden.
- Changing the time or frequency of any series still resets all information in the series, even those that have been manually overridden.
- If you make any changes to a series and apply to "All Following", it will reset all information in all future meetings, and the future meetings will be become a new distinct series. This will override any fields that you may have manually overridden.
The story of Los Angeles moving to Google Apps started early this year, when the city's Chief Technology Officer, Randi Levin, and her team at the Information Technology Agency (ITA) looked to replace their aging, on-premise system with more secure, productivity-focused technology. After calling for proposals and carefully evaluating over 14 different ones, Randi and the ITA decided to revamp the city government's email technology by adopting Google Apps.
Los Angeles will be the first major city and the largest in the US to move to Google's platform. At the time Google's bid was approved by the Los Angeles City Council, Councilman Tony Cardenas, who made the motion in Council to go Google, told the Los Angeles Times that the City had made a "world-class decision" to go Google. CTO Randi Levin explains in more depth her organization's decision to go Google in this post at Google's Enterprise Blog
For the last year, SADA Systems, Inc. has been a part of supporting this effort. Beginning today we are proud, along with Computer Sciences Corporation to be part of the Google team that will implement the solution for the City.
For more information on getting started with Google Apps, please click here or call 866-997-0000, option 3.
Nothing confirms more that SADA Systems, Inc. is succeeding in achieving it's mission than when a client takes the time to address their satisfaction with our services. Here Deby DeWeese; Director, Network Operations of the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA recalls the University's recent partnership with SADA on their Google Apps Education Edition deployment.
"Fielding Graduate University began working with SADA Systems on a Google Apps project and we were so impressed with the depth of their technical talent and the professionalism and customer service skills of all members on their team that we increased our business relationship.
We now work with SADA to manage our Exchange server, manage all our Staff desktops, all our remote faculty desktops, as well as a larger managed services contract to manage our entire data center. In addition, we are working with the SADA development team on a single sign on project, an AD-LDAP project, and a Google Sites project.
Whether it’s Help Desk, engineering, programming, or project management, the SADA Systems team is by far one of our best vendors in terms of responsiveness, technical ability, and overall ease in doing business. Simply put, I can relax when SADA is on the job as I know everything will go smoothly. Our users enjoy working with them too!"
For more information on all of SADA's services, please click here or call 866-997-0000, option 3.
Google Apps Premier and Education Edition administrators can now enable the new groups functionality from the control panel by enabling the "user-managed groups" service.
How to access what's new: - If the checkbox 'Automatically add new Google services' is checked in the administrator Control Panel, then Groups (user-managed) will be visible in your Dashboard.
- Otherwise, in your Google Apps Dashboard, click 'Add more services'. Click the 'Add it now' button to enable Groups (user-managed) for your domain.
Note: To add user-managed groups as a service, your Control Panel needs to be in US English and have the 'Next Generation' option selected in 'Domain Settings'. It will remain as a service on the Dashboard after you revert your control panel language back to your chosen language. The Groups interface language is determined by your web browser settings.
We are also announcing new SharePoint Online-based collaboration and productivity services will be available for students as part of the Live@edu next year. These new SharePoint-based services will offer IT departments more flexibility and control to set up and manage their school’s collaboration and productivity tools in a security-enhanced environment…as well as the ability to access and manage permissions to sites, documents and content (pictures, videos) with enterprise-class control.
For students, these new services give them access to similar types of functionality that has made SharePoint the fastest growing server product in Microsoft history. It will enable them to create, edit and securely access content from their school’s site anywhere, whether at home, at the school library or even while on the road for holiday. It will allow them to organize, track and easily share classroom information, interests, expertise and easily find colleagues. By leveraging Office Web Apps that are currently in technical preview, students will have a new online space where they can securely upload, easily share, and collaborate on documents, including in-place editing. We believe this will better prepare them for the workforce through use of functionality and technology used every day in the workplace.
Microsoft’s software plus services model—which spans mission-critical datacenter availability and security, Live@edu, Microsoft Online Services collaboration and communication offerings, and Windows Azure—combines the reach and flexibility of the cloud with the power of on-premises software applications. Today, we see that people want to access information on the PC, in the browser and on a mobile device…and I think this the real value in moving to the cloud…having the flexibility and choice to run your solutions either in the cloud, on premises, or a mix of the two.
For more information on getting started with Live@edu, please click here or call 866-997-0000, option 3.
SADA Brings Google Apps to Wireless Pioneer LCC International
As one of the first 10 Google Apps for Enterprise partners worldwide, and an initial contributor to the Google Apps Open Source provisioning toolkit, SADA Systems, Inc. has developed a proven track record in the implementation of Google Apps solutions. SADA works with a diverse client base to create custom, leading-edge solutions that strategically meet client business objectives.
A pioneer in the wireless industry since 1983, LCC International has performed technical services for the largest wireless operators in North and South America, Europe, The Middle East, Africa and Asia. LCC has participated in the success of some of the largest and most sophisticated wireless systems in the world, having worked with all major access technologies, including UMTS, EV-DO, HSDPA, and WiMAX.
Challenges
LCC needed to deploy Google Apps for all of their employees. This included offices both inside and outside the U.S. The total number of users who would be moved over to Google Apps was over 1,100, with most of those employees using various mobile devices. To achieve a successful Google Apps Implementation would require:
SADA deploying dual delivery during the transition period to guarantee email delivery to both MS Exchange 2003 and Google Apps for all users.
SADA and LCC migrating email data from LCC International's existing, on-premise MS Exchange 2003 system. This included a 250 GB mail store shared by all LCC employees.
User provisioning and synchronization of all employee accounts and credentials that were managed through Microsoft Active Directory.
Preservation of existing LCC distribution lists.
Either before or after migration, SADA and LCC would also have to address the subject of training an entrenched workforce including techs who had become accustomed to working with the existing Exchange-based email solution.
Solution
SADA worked closely with LCC to develop a strategy for meeting the goals of the implementation. To meet the needs of LCC's users, SADA worked closely with their IT department to implement Google Apps. Solutions deployed at LCC include:
Email migration and contact sharing in between Google Apps and the identity management system in place at LCC.
Set up the Gmail list tool to maintain distribution lists managed by LCC.
Deployed Enhanced Dual Delivery to maintain messages sent to both accounts (Exchange and Gmail) during the transition period.
Conducted extensive online training via webinars for employees on five continents.
Transitioned LCC International's 1,100 employees to Google Apps from their previous MS Exchange-based system.
Results
With SADA's assistance, extensive collaboration with the LCC sponsor and champion, and the implementation of best-of-breed utilities for the deployment of Google Apps, LCC International was able to smoothly and effectively implement Google Apps for their managers and employees. This implementation of Google Apps allowed LCC International to decommission their existing Microsoft Exchange email system, while continuing to provide their users with email and collaboration services. As a result of the implementation of Google Apps, the client has experienced an increase in productivity from their field-based workers.
"Shortly after we started looking at Google Apps, LCC was introduced to SADA by Google, who noted they had been working closely with SADA since the initial launch of Google Apps," commented John Buckholz, LCC's VP of Information Technology. "The success of LCC's implementation was largely due to SADA's expertise with the Google Apps platform combined with their experience...successfully migrating other large Google customers. We completed the project on time and within budget, with no major surprises along the way. After the implementation, SADA continued to support LCCI's IT team until we were comfortable with the technical and administrative aspects of the new platform."
Google Apps is helping millions of companies save money, but more importantly, Google Apps helps businesses move beyond the slow, multi-year innovation cycle typical of legacy technologies. Google has released over 100 significant improvements and updates over the last year, and businesses automatically have access to these updates without having to manage complex and costly upgrades.
Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager, hosted a webcast titled Google Apps Premier Edition Innovation – Year in Review to spotlight the most important improvements we’ve made recently. You can watch the replay below or see it on YouTube.
For more information on getting started with Google Apps, please click here or call 866-997-0000, option 3.
